The Starbucks Enorma-Gargantua-Venti

Did you know you can still get a “small” coffee at Starbucks?

It’s about the size of what we used to call a “cup” of coffee. You know–cup sized.

But several years ago, they took it off the menu and hid those cups away, to encourage consumers to spend more money, drink more coffee, and (says the conspiracy theorist in me) become ever more addicted.

It worked on me.

I really just wanted a small. (Was it actually called a “short”? I think it was…)

But blind consumer me, I went along, starting ordering talls, and playing right into their hand, drinking more and spending more.

In the course of just a few days, a went from a tall to a venti to a grande.

I stuck with the grande for a little while.

And then I moved up to multiple grandes.

And then one day I was found quivering in a corner, shaking like blues singer with the delirium tremens, the sad victim of too much caffein over too short a time.

I was able to walk it off with the support of a loving family, dear friends, and some strong alcohol.

But it made me realize something about the video course.

I had originally planned to send it out, four videos in four days. A strong firehose blast of quality ukulele education.

But there’s a lot to take in.

Video 1–here, is about changing the way you THINK about ukulele strumming in order to easily improve your actual technique.

Video 2–here, contains the magic formula I call The Vital Element, which will show how you can play any strum pattern for any song without ever having to memorize. One viewer actually called it “the missing link”!

In two days that’s more info about uke strumming than most players would cover in a year.

So today is a breather.

No new video.

If you’re hooked, you can go back and review. Or better yet, get out uke and TRY the techniques I show you.

Tomorrow, I’ll open the spigot again with Video 3 (all about the so-called strum patterns).

And–

I want to reassure you. I’ve kicked the caffein monkey and I’ve written a strongly worded letter to Starbucks encouraging them to offer smaller sizes with faux Italian names, like the Teenzi-Weenzi, the Microscoppi, and the Droplette.